black
writing on the white skin, and the great seals, or bulls, hanging from
it whereon those who could read saw the device of the Pope of Rome.

'Say, is this thy doing?' cried Sir Gawaine fiercely, looking at King
Geraint. 'Didst thou send this meddling priest to Rome to get this?'

'That did I,' replied Geraint.

'Then now I make this vow,' thundered Sir Gawaine, 'that though thou
hast balked me of my vengeance now, I will mark thee, thou king of two
minds, and be thou sure that erelong I will avenge me of this
treachery, and that upon thy body and in thy blood.'

'I mark thy words, Sir Gawaine,' said Geraint, whose eyes flashed
fiercely, though his voice was calm, 'and I say again thou art mad. I
will tell thee and the king, our lord and master, why I did advise the
holy bishop to go to Rome and get the Pope's command. First, as ye all
know, I did think this war a wicked one beyond all measure, and ever
have I raised my voice against it. And what I foresaw has come to pass.
As the good priest saith, while ye tore at each other's throats here in
the furthest marches of the north, the sly, fierce pagan, learning how
all the land was rent and weakened by this evil war, has crept up in
his longships, he has landed at many solitary places on the coast, and
has spread far and wide throughout the land, burning and slaughtering.
The long files of his captives, our kinsmen, go day by day, even as ye
fight here, brother with brother, down to the black ships, and ye do
naught to save them or avenge them. Already have I, in my office as
Count of the Saxon Shore, battered them back to their ships at Lemanis,
Llongporth and Rutupiae; but here in the north, for all that the old
lion, Uriens of Reged, worn with war and full of age, hath taken the
field against them, here, behind your backs as ye battle, kin with kin,
a great and a stubborn pagan, whom men call Hyring the Land-waster,
hath entered the land and still prevails. Crafty he is and strong, for
he hath made treaties with some of our weaker kin, and their women he
hath taken in marriage for his leaders, and thus in our very midst
there is treachery, hand-in-hand with the brutal invaders. Yet still
you, Gawaine, are so mad, so lost to all care for your nation's weal,
that you would see your people ruined and your land possessed by the
savage boars of Saxons, while ye slake your vengeance for a private
wrong. If still you so would do, I call you traitor, and, by the grace